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XProtectPluginChecker

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CHICAGO/CUPERTINO (Rixstep) — Are you an OS X admin or power user who needs a quick way to see if your Flash and Java plugins have been blocked by Apple?

For they do this. With the help of a file buried deep in your system.

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/XProtect.meta.plist

There are namely two files protecting your system. The other of course is the following.

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/XProtect.plist

XProtect.meta.plist looks something like this on the test system.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>JavaWebComponentVersionMinimum</key>
    <string>1.6.0_41-b02-446</string>
    <key>LastModification</key>
    <string>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:47:02 GMT</string>
    <key>PlugInBlacklist</key>
    <dict>
        <key>10</key>
        <dict>
            <key>com.macromedia.Flash Player.plugin</key>
            <dict>
                <key>MinimumPlugInBundleVersion</key>
                <string>11.6.602.171</string>
            </dict>
            <key>com.oracle.java.JavaAppletPlugin</key>
            <dict>
                <key>MinimumPlugInBundleVersion</key>
                <string>1.7.15.04</string>
            </dict>
        </dict>
    </dict>
    <key>Version</key>
    <integer>1043</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Too much gobbledegook. Far better with a smart applet that gives you the info you want and need with a single click.

XProtectPluginChecker.

And it's good to have it running on the menubar all the time. Apple are always doing dirty nasty stuff behind your back.

'A bonus idea for making this more useful is to make a launchd script that watches the XProtect plist files, then fires off the XProtectPluginChecker script when they change, emailing the results to you, because knowing is half the battle', adds Bruner.

The Technical

Joel Bruner is no stranger to OS or Unix scripting. XProtectPluginChecker is 'written in bash, sprinkled with PlistBuddy/awk/sed-Fu with a dash of mdfind magic, and wrapped with Platypus'.

XProtectPluginChecker comes with an i386/x86_64 binary but the bundle can easily be trimmed to a svelte 140 KB.

A keeper.